The present invention relates generally to electrical and mechanical interface assemblies for transmission line links and, more particularly, to terminations and junctions for use with flat strip transmission lines.
In an effort to accommodate new products suitable for transmission of voice and data carriers for cellular and paging services, flat strip transmission lines have been developed. These transmission lines may tap into existing signal sources and transmit signals throughout buildings, including their high-rise levels and hallways, subterranean levels and hallways, and tunnels and low coverage areas.
This flat strip transmission line must often be terminated, or connected to, a coaxial cable. Such a connection is accomplished by utilizing an adapter, or connector, that accommodates the coaxial cable on one end and the flat strip transmission line on the other end. Such connectors are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,704, issued Sep. 19, 1989 describes a connection for coupling coaxial connectors to a strip line. This device is complex and has many parts that must be held together by screws. U.S. Pat. No. 5,453,750, issued Sep. 26, 1995 describes another connector that utilizes specially formed connecting pins. This structure is complex to assemble and the special pins may become misplaced during installation.
The present invention overcomes these deficiencies by providing a low-cost and simple termination for such transmission lines which establishes a satisfactory electrical interface connection between the flat strip transmission line link and conventional transmission line links used in communication applications, such as coaxial cable transmission line links.
Transmission lines utilizing flat strip links have further been without the benefit of junctions to provide a mechanical and electrical interface between two flat strip links. This presents a problem when the total length of a flat strip link is insufficient to cover the complete length of the transmission line. As such, there exists a need for junctions, or splices, that allow the end of one flat strip link to be in electrical communication with an adjacent flat strip link of the transmission line. Further, it would be beneficial to develop an elbow junction, or splice, that permits two flat strip links to be in electrical communication with each other when it is desired to change the direction of the transmission line path, as a result of, for example, corners along hallways in office buildings. Such junctions would preferably provide an electrical and mechanical interface between two adjacent flat strip links of a transmission line. The junctions of the present invention provide these benefits.